Pope John Paul II has encouraged New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark to foster dialogue in a world "so troubled by the scourge of racial division and conflict".

Miss Clark and husband Professor Peter Davis met the Holy Father at the Vatican on Friday.

During a short speech, the Pope said NZ had always cherished the fundamental values of freedom, justice and peace. It had generously sought to defend and promote those values in the Pacific and beyond.

In his remarks about racial tension, it is not clear that the Pope was referring specifically to the discontent Miss Clark has created this month among the country's Maori over her government's policy on ownership of New Zealand's coastline.

The Holy Father said: "On acknowledging the fundamental God-given dignity of every person, dialogue leads to a recognition of diversity, while opening the mind to the mutual acceptance and genuine collaboration demanded by the human family's basic vocation to unity."

Helen Clark went on to meet the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

She nearly did not make the papal audience. Her convoy from Cassino to Rome was escorted by several police cars but the high-speed dash ran into heavy traffic and reached the Vatican with only minutes to spare.